Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Talking: Self Publishing Basics in Shanghai

Lately, I've been doing a lot of talking (not uncommon!) but in particular ... about self promotion, personal online presence, blogging, social media. And I've been invited to do some group talks and workshops around Shanghai. If you've been reading my blog for a long while, I've often just left my writing here to be about some personal stuff but always sewing and creating stuff. I don't see myself being a 'ALL IN' or 'MY WHOLE LIFE' kind of blogger, but rather someone who loves the digital space, and appreciating the slow craft of sewing and how it's helped me find my true writing voice.

Reflecting on writing here and self publishing somewhat regularly for 8 years, or so, is a hard task for me... I am very outgoing and have flashes of shyness so sometimes being truly person here on the blog doesn't come as easily as saying how much I love floral fabrics or shopping at the market for supplies. But, of course, when I'm not sewing much and doing other things, it's hard to write about sewing and I have SO many things to tell you about right now, about our lives in Shanghai... so for a while maybe I am turning to personal passions and stories from my life here.

So, that's what I've been doing, helping people gather up their toolkits and their writing skills and get online to capture their world here... I've been talking about HOW you can self publish: write a blog, get on instagram... write & share thoughts on twitter... all that stuff. We've had lots of discussions here and there about basic social media and blogging that I look at my blog here and I'm doing ALL the things I say not to do. I AM currently typing this in the CMS and not in Evernote... I have suggested to some new bloggers to write outside of the content management system, as it helps the writing flow rather than "I have to write this quickly and press Publish right away!!!!".

Anyways, just letting you know that I'm still here! And YES I will update my 'About Me' page soon, and YES I'd like to publish about 3 of those blog posts I have saved in the drafts folder. YES, I have stuff to say about Sewing School recently! YES I love reading your comments, and YES, I have read your blog post, but haven't left a comment. Building, engaging a community, sharing stories... etc etc etc... so much of the basics lends itself to marketing... but from my personal career (which has its strong base in storytelling instead of 'selling stories') I just don't know the buzzwords or the marketing terms.

So, if you want to see what I'm doing day-to-day, follow on Instagram! I'm keeping very busy there, so if you prefer slow paced blog posts, stay here, but if you're missing my little face, follow over there AND here! Hee hee!